Circumnavigate
by Skarrow
Summary: This time around, Naruto was supposed to save Hinata, and the world, from Otsutsuki Toneri's genocide plot. He was supposed to walk forwards and claim the happy future that he deserved. But Naruto is nothing if not unpredictable. Against all odds, he turns around and runs right back to Sakura despite all of her efforts to keep him on the correct path. [Twoshot, Time-travel]


**A/N:** Hey there! Thanks for checking this story out. **Circumnavigate** is meant to be a two-shot time travel/AU fic (in defiance of all those epic-length time travel fics), and is presented in a series of vignettes. Scenes 1-22 and 25, etc. are missing in this installment because they will be shown in the next chapter instead.

 **Warning:** Manga spoilers, AU, time-travel, character death, undertones of obsessive behavior. Also unbeta-ed.

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 **"Within This Forest of Illusions"**

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 _012607501260650126015009720501242050109925012607501260650126015009720501242050109925 **012604** 5012607501260650126015009720501242050109925012607501260650126015_...

 _I won't forget._

 **.**

 **#23, nth L  
**

For the first time in the boy's life, Naruto was getting accused for a prank he didn't do.

It was a huge paint job of the Hokage mountain, to be exact. Of course Naruto had been planning to do the same himself one of these days (he admitted that much to the old man); it was just a matter of finding the right moment. But not like this.

The mastermind had stuck to a single color - bright red. The faces of the previous village leaders looked ghastly; the paint smeared and splashed grossly over stone cheeks, noses, and eyes like blood. The civilians thought it was an omen of the apocalypse. The leaf ninja thought it was a tasteless prank of Naruto's gone too far. A unique handful of individuals appreciated the artistic expression and the dramatic irony. Naruto personally thought the shinobi had the right idea (except the part where they said it was his fault, because it wasn't! Dattebayo!). Naruto was rightfully pissed that he'd been accused, no matter how amusing it was to watch the other villagers scream and faint in terror.

The jinchuuriki wouldn't realize until over a decade later that it was indeed an omen. But as of now, all Naruto wanted was to find the guy who had the balls (and the resources) to pull this off. There was only room for ONE prankster king in Konoha, after all!

First order of business was to hit all the stores he knew sold paint, and find out which one had sold off nearly all of their stock of red paint and brushes. He prudently peeked into his usual dumping areas for getting rid of his own pranking masterpieces to see if he could find any leftover incriminating items. Any prankster worth his salt would know not to put all the paintbrushes in a single area.

Ten days after his self-imposed investigation began, he picked up a useful tip from listening in on the grocer's customers gossip which led him to a dumping site in the civilian sector.

There wasn't a trace of what was inside the small incinerator except the telltale splash of bright red paint that didn't quite get washed away by the recent rain (darned jiji's ANBU probably beat him to the evidence) but Naruto didn't care because there he found the culprit instead.

The culprit wasn't a guy, but a girl with pink hair.

Her back was to him as she nonchalantly crossed the slightly muddy grounds to the incinerator and threw her little dark blue dress - ruined by red paint - inside. Naruto, who wasn't a stranger to (avoiding) trouble knew about destroying proof of guilt as well as the back of his hand. This was as good as a confession of guilt for him. Now was the time to strike!

He sneaked up to her as quietly as he could, water balloon ready. He was still pissed that he'd gotten a lecture from Hokage-jiji even though he swore it wasn't him so he wanted to get even. Still, it was still a pretty brilliant prank so his revenge was downgraded from a balloon of quick-drying glue to water.

Naruto was momentarily stunned when she abruptly turned around just as he'd been about to throw the balloon at her head. And then he found himself lost in big green eyes. That, combined with her round, baby-soft face, and his mind was instantly filled with thoughts of how she was the cutest girl he'd ever seen. A blush was already threatening to spread over his cheeks, water balloon promptly dropped and forgotten.

He never noticed the way her eyes widened slightly with recognition. For just a second... before it was consciously tamped down. And then the girl opened her mouth, shattering the illusion of loveliness.

"Move."

"Huh?"

"You're in the way. Move," she insisted in her flat, childish voice. She waved her hand, gesturing him to move sideways.

"Huh?" Naruto still didn't get it. He was still too stunned from reality and fantasy colliding to really understand.

The girl pointed at something just over Naruto's shoulder. He was standing right in front of the lever that turned on the incinerator.

Naruto stammered gibberish and stumbled sideways. The girl just stepped forwards and switched the incinerator on. To his surprise, the girl also grabbed his hand and dragged him away so he wouldn't get burned.

Before he could instinctively rip his hand away in defense (most physical contact for Naruto had been painful for him), she let him go first, her eyes dead set on his own.

"Who are you?" She asked him curtly. "And you wet yourself. Yuck." She frowned down at his brown shorts.

"What?"

Naruto finally noticed how drenched his shorts and sandals had gotten from the dropped water balloon.

He scowled, his face flushing for a different reason now. "I didn't wet myself! It's cause I dropped the water b-... err..." Naruto trailed off awkwardly. It wasn't as if he could admit he had been about to surprise her with a water balloon, right? What if she tried to hurt him in retaliation... or worse, tattled on him to her parents?

"A-are you the one who painted Hokage mountain?!" Was his brash attempt at redirecting the conversation.

"Yes."

She answered him so easily, so shamelessly that Naruto faltered once again. Feeling even more awkward, he blundered on, "Grrr! It's your fault why I got lectured to death by the old man! And I was forced to help clean, too!"

To Naruto's growing annoyance, the girl began laughing right at the top of her lungs. "What's so funny?!" He demanded. Her laughter wasn't mean-spirited, but it still made him feel embarrassed, stupid. He wasn't stupid!

She ignored him and continued to laugh as if she'd just heard one of the greatest jokes of all time, Naruto screaming his complaints.

Naruto was never really that patient to begin with, so at one point he gave up trying to insult the girl with words. He bent down to pick up a good handful of mud, straightened, and smeared it right against her cheek. His justice startled her right out of her laughter.

Both children froze. Naruto tensed, ready to run at the slightest hint of hostility. He was all too familiar with the way the villagers treated him after he rankled them, in any shape or form.

But-

A mischievous, challenging grin stretched across the girl's face. It was a prankster's smile - he recognized it because he had one of his own. Naruto gawked. He didn't expect such a reaction. So unexpected in fact, that he didn't see the handful of mud aimed right at his own face until it was too late. The cold and gritty feeling on his cheek surprised him, and he stumbled and fell right on his rump.

The girl blew a raspberry and ran away as fast as her little legs could carry her. The air echoed with peals of girlish laughter and insinuations about Naruto wetting himself. Naruto howled with embarrassment and dashed after her, slinging both mud and insults of his own ("you have a forehead bigger than the Hokage mountain, dattebayo!") as fast as he was able.

Suffice to say, Naruto returned to his tiny apartment covered head to toe in gunk and smelling like sour, wet earth that evening.

 **.**

 **#24** **, nth L**

It wasn't as if the general populace outright tried to murder him every step of the way. No, they didn't want to risk the boy's guards reporting their actions to the Hokage. More importantly, they didn't want to risk the ire of the Demon Fox. So Naruto's monthly allowance was the same as all of the other orphans', and the orphanage caretakers treated him with distant politeness and tolerance. Shopkeepers of all kinds were either unflinchingly neutral or completely disgruntled when they saw him, but they didn't dare sabotage his purchases.

The God of Shinobi had made his order clear: Naruto was not to be harmed or endangered in any way.

On the other hand, they felt no pressing need to be friendly with the boy, and ignored him whenever possible. So while the boy wasn't horribly mistreated (except the fanatics who hunted him down every October 10th, and a couple of old-timers with their brooms) and no assassination attempts were made on him, he wasn't exactly treated right, either. Because in the villagers' eyes he was the Demon Fox reincarnated, thus all he received was fear and resentment. Naruto was the symbol, a living reminder of a nightmare.

But Naruto didn't know about that. And he wouldn't, until he graduated from Ninja Academy.

Right now, the only life Naruto had ever known was a life of pranks, Ichiraku ramen, the occasional visit to old man Hokage and... utter, crushing loneliness. Citizens avoided looking at him in the eyes and only kept the barest of contact necessary. The other children were warned to stay away from him. They all kept wide berth as he walked down the streets, whispering.

So when the pink haired girl from the other day ran down the street towards him, Naruto could only gawk. Again. He looked over his shoulder, checking to make sure it really was him she was calling out to, grinning like the cat that ate the cream. Grinning at _him_. Acknowledging _him_.

"Hey! Come with me!" she said excitedly, practically bouncing. Her pink hair was in disarray just like last time - she could probably do well with a headband or something but if she was frustrated by the pink strands that fell in her eyes, she didn't let it show. She clutched a small sketchbook in one hand and snatched his wrist with the other. Around them, Naruto could see the adults whispering and pointing.

Naruto couldn't really remember what exactly happened next. He vaguely recalled hiding in a dark corner shoulder-to-shoulder with the pink haired girl, sniggering together madly as one victim after another slipped across the huge mine field of banana peels in the civilian supermarket.

It was what she did afterwards that rendered his memory so useless-

As the first stars appeared in the darkened sky on their way back home, she'd taken one close look at him, leaned forward and hugged him.

The next day, Naruto was slightly disappointed to learn that Sakura-chan (he remembered to ask her what her name was this tiime!) hugged _anything_ she'd found adorable after he witnessed her giving a cuddle to a cute puppy. But he was ultimately okay with that because he had never been hugged by anyone other than the Sandaime before, so he treasured any and all physical contact with her.

 **.**

 **#26** **, nth L**

Days flowed into weeks.

The next time Naruto found his new friend (isn't that amazing? he has a _friend_!) and pranking partner (together, they've achieved great things, greater than whatever Naruto did alone), Sakura was drawing in a sketchbook. Peering over her shoulder, Naruto found himself entranced by her pencil's smooth, flowing movements.

He'd known that she was a budding artist - she had an eye for style whenever they "repainted" a shop or two. But he didn't know it applied to other parts of her life as well.

"Ne Sakura-chan, whatcha drawing?"

To Naruto, it looked like a human head, but as it was only the rough beginning draft he couldn't figure out who she was drawing. The lack of a face certainly didn't help.

"It's a secret," Sakura replied petulantly without looking up.

She didn't elaborate, and Naruto eventually got bored of asking. He watched her for one more minute before getting up to practice some basic shuriken throwing techniques, just the way she'd taught him.

There were days Sakura just zoned out and kept to herself. This was one of those days. It's kind of creepy how quiet she could be, but Naruto had accepted her quirks just like how she had accepted his existence.

And he wasn't disappointed when Sakura finally put down her sketchbook and joined him in training, and the training became a competition that Naruto won handily because while Sakura's throws were more precise than his, they weren't as strong, and sometimes didn't even reach the wooden targets.

It was in the middle of this impromptu competition did two members of the Konoha police force shunshin into the training grounds.

"Haruno Sakura-san?" the shorter one spoke. "You are Haruno Sakura-san, correct? Please accompany us to the station."

Both children blinked up at the two officers, confused and stunned by their sudden intrusion.

Naruto was the first to recover and he immediately jumped in front of his friend. A feeling of dread had settled in his stomach. The blond was aware that the police suspected Sakura for several pranks, and while they were right Naruto didn't want her to get thrown into a cold, lonely cell overnight like him whenever he got caught. He had to protect Sakura-chan no matter what!

"What do you want?!" He shouted defiantly. In his hand was the practice shuriken he'd been about to throw before their competition had been interrupted. His fingers gripped the star, ready to use it at a moment's notice.

He felt Sakura move closer to him from behind, her fingers lightly grasping his sleeve. He couldn't see her face, but the touch strengthened his resolve.

"It's regarding your parents, Haruno Sakura-san."

The officers were stoic, giving nothing away. Yet Naruto's feeling of dread intensified. He vowed never to budge from his spot.

(One day, Naruto would understand why he was so willing to throw himself in harm's way for Sakura.)

"Naruto, it's okay," Sakura's suddenly spoke. "I don't think they're going to hurt me."

At one point Naruto had come to realize that Sakura was great at reading situations, way better than him. It was because she was quick on the uptake that their more complicated pranks had gone smoother than he initially figured. He trusted her to give him the nitty-gritty in no uncertain terms.

If she thought that the officers weren't going to arrest her, it was nothing to worry about... right?

So why did Naruto feel as if something was horribly wrong?

The feeling remained, even as Sakura disappeared in a flash of leaves with the officers.

Naruto turned around and scrambled towards the Hokage Tower. He needed to talk to jiji about this. He knew the old man approved of his friend so if she was in trouble, Hokage-jiji would be able to help!

...Just another reason why Naruto needed to become Hokage himself. That way, he could take care of all of their problems.

 **.**

 **#27** **, nth L**

There were times Naruto couldn't hang out with Sakura-chan for some reason other than kunoichi classes. Reasons that Sakura didn't explain clearly, and he'd stopped asking because all of her cryptic replies made his head hurt.

During those times, he would just wander around the training grounds (the training genin teams didn't pay him any attention). He would practice his taijutsu stances or the leaf exercise on his own for a while, but he wouldn't be able to concentrate for very long without Sakura to keep him on his toes.

It was strange - before he'd met Sakura, he had managed to occupy his own time just fine. But nowadays there just wasn't that much to do without his best friend around.

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto spotted Hyuuga Hinata spying on him from behind a tree again. It had been Sakura who noticed the weird, dark-haired girl first and pointed her out to the oblivious blond. Why Hinata was following them around, Naruto wasn't sure, but he had a feeling it had something to do with him.

Seeing Hinata spy on him now, even without Sakura nearby, just confirmed it. Sakura had insisted the girl was just shy, and just needed the right moment to try and befriend him, so...

Naruto decided to tackle the situation head-on.

"Hey! Hinata! What are you doing over here?" He jumped out right in front of her with a big grin and a thumbs up.

"Eeeek!" The girl screamed and promptly fell to the ground in a heap.

"Ack! She fainted?! What the heck?!"

That day, Naruto ended up making a second friend. Sort-of. He still thought Hinata was a little weird, and he had a hard time understanding her stutters.

But unlike Sakura, she was polite and even sweet whereas Sakura had a tendency to rile Naruto up almost every other minute and liked thwacking him over his head. Hinata didn't strike him, and she didn't mind eating at Ichiraku either, which was a plus in his book. Not to mention how old man Teuchi approved of the girl himself. And, as it turned out, this wasn't the first time they'd met one another-

"Thanks?" Naruto parroted Hinata's word, swallowing the rest of his ramen. "Thanks for what?"

Hinata's pale eyes met Naruto's for a fleeting moment before her gaze darted away again.

"I-I-I g-guess you don't r-remember it..." Her speech had improved as the hours passed, but it was still really bad. "B-but t-that day, you s-saved me... from the bullies... and I.. I-I..."

Hinata reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a brown parcel.

"Y-your old scarf got r-ruined because of me... s-so I made you a new one..."

"Eh?" Naruto pointed at himself. "That's really for me?"

Hinata could only nod, her cheeks aflame. She turned in her stool and held out the package carefully with both hands, head bowed.

"Awesome! Thanks a bunch, Hinata!" Naruto exuberantly tore open the paper and held up the black and orange striped scarf with a big grin. "Look, Teuchi-san! Hinata made me a scarf!"

The blond was on cloud nine. Nobody had made anything for him before!

"Ne Hinata! Don't be shy to come over and say hi the next time we cross paths - Sakura's really nice too, so I'm sure we'll all get along great!" Naruto suggested. "What do you say?"

"Y-you wouldn't mind...?" Hinata asked shyly.

"Of course not!"

"Th-then I will."

The pair hung out together for the rest of the day at the training fields until Hinata's curfew. Naruto was still grinning even as he slipped into bed that night, reliving today's events in his head...

 **.**

 **#28** **, nth L**

Academy life?

Sakura was smart enough to stay at the top of their class by acing all the important exams (especially the written ones) and getting above average scores in everything else. Kunoichi classes usually lasted about an hour and a half, twice a week, so she made time to attend those.

Naruto didn't appreciate sitting around in a classroom all day himself, but he didn't want to disappoint Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei, two of four adults in Konoha who _didn't_ snub him the same way everyone else did. So he made sure to at least pop in for the roll-call and then some before ditching.

Long story short, they were hardly at school.

Naruto found it much more fun to train with Sakura-chan outside on their own anyways. And whenever she explained things like jutsu theory and advanced trap making, he actually _understood_ what she was saying.

The day she invited him to sleep over at her apartment after hours of fun training is the day he discovered that she was now an orphan, like him.

Of course, Naruto had been curious about what the police had wanted with Sakura half a year ago. But when he'd asked Hokage-jiji about it, the old man didn't say a word and had just smiled sadly at him, patted his head and told Naruto to support his friend.

Well duh! Naruto had been, is, and was going to support Sakura-chan no matter what! Dattebayo! Although the event was pushed to the back of his mind after awhile.

That late autumn day when she invited him to her home, Naruto had been over the moon. He had also been an utter nervous wreck. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to act around her parents. And given with his track record with the other adults in the village... what if they kicked him out of their house and forbade him from seeing Sakura ever again?

So when they finally arrived at Sakura's place, Naruto had resolved to stick around for as long as possible, for Sakura-chan's sake. She'd invited him and he'd accepted the invite, so he was not going to back down from his own word!

Sakura ushered the boy into her home, and the first thing Naruto noticed was how cold it felt. And not to mention how dark it was.

"Urk, so cold," Sakura groaned. She slipped out of her shoes and marched deeper inside, flicking on the lights and the heater as she went. "Make yourself at home, Naruto! I'll just start up dinner. I hope you're okay with instant ramen!"

"Heck yes! I'm _always_ up for ramen! Of all kinds!" Naruto said enthusiastically. He watched Sakura leave her shoes near the door and carefully placed his shoes next to hers, noticing at once how there was only one other pair of shoes, too small to belong to any adult. He cautiously poked his head through the door and found himself looking inside a one room apartment: a kitchenette off to the left, a single door in the corner (the bathroom?), a two-seater dining table in the center and a double bed just beyond that on the other side of the room, next to the window.

What struck Naruto was the fact that it reminded him of his own lonely little apartment.

And once again, that insistent feeling of _something's wrong_ reared its head.

"Sakura-chan, you don't live with your parents?" Naruto wondered aloud, seating himself at the table.

Sakura left the kettle on the stove, waiting for it to boil. "No, I don't," she confirmed.

"Eh? But, why?"

"Because they're dead."

"... _What?_ " Naruto stammered. His heart was thudding hard - from the declaration, or from how nonchalant Sakura sounded, he wasn't sure. "Dead?! Since _when_?!"

His mind flashed back several months ago, when those police officers had approached him and Sakura in the training fields...

No.

 _No_ , it couldn't have been that time, right? It was half a year ago... and Sakura would have said something back then!

Wouldn't she?

"Do you remember that time those officers talked to us, Naruto?" She began, still talking as if discussing the weather. "When they brought me to the police station? It was around that time."

It was as if the room's walls were shrinking around him, boxing him in. His mind raced. His hand clenched into a fist. "Then... why didn't you tell me?" Naruto demanded. "Half a year ago... that's crazy! That's...!"

"It wasn't very important, so I never got around to telling you."

Naruto stood up so abruptly, the chair screeched and slid backwards. "Not important?" He growled indignantly. "Not _important_?! Sakura-chan, this is your family we're talking about! Of course it's important! Your parents... your parents are-!"

Sakura crossed her arms. "Are gone, Naruto. They're _gone_. Getting angry or emotional over it now won't change anything. I've already cried for them."

"That's not the point! You lost your parents, and I... I am such an idiot! All this time, you've been hiding this on the inside! And I had no idea!"

Naruto couldn't understand the rage boiling in his chest. It was so hard to get the words out; he wanted to _punch_ something. The young blond restrained himself as best as he could - he didn't want to hurt Sakura.

Just the thought of his best friend suffering all by herself was enough to make Naruto spitting mad. And worse, Sakura herself was just giving him a confused look, as if she truly didn't understand what he was talking about. Seeing that expression just made young blond even angrier somehow.

"I- look Naruto, I didn't want to ruin the fun we had together everyday," Sakura explained slowly, clearly. "I didn't want you to pity me, and I didn't want to accuse you of pitying me. And I felt guilty. I didn't want to burden you unnecessarily about losing my parents to you when you didn't have parents to begin with."

"You're a moron." Naruto growled quietly, startling Sakura. "If I had any pity to give, I'd eat it over rice for dinner. And me being an orphan has nothing to do with this!"

"Naruto-"

"What matters is that you lost your family... and I would have supported you with all I had if you'd just _told me_! Because you're my best friend!" Naruto was shouting again. "So promise me that from now on, if you're hurt or in danger, you'll tell me!"

Sakura's face went carefully blank as her gaze met Naruto's unwavering glare head on.

And then she relented.

"Okay, Naruto, I promise. But you'll also have to promise me the same thing - that if you get hurt or get in trouble, you'll come tell me right away."

"Of course!"

The kettle on the stove began to whistle loudly.

 **.**

 **#29** **, nth L**

Sometimes, Yamanaka Ino would see her pink haired classmate, Sakura, outside of kunoichi classes. Usually she would either walk past the family flower shop in the morning, or in the evening.

She first met the other girl when Ino's father, Inoichi, had acted as Sakura's psychiatrist over a year ago. Sakura used to swing by their home once a week, every Saturday afternoon, and Ino was usually the one playing host and entertaining her until Inoichi finished his other duties. Their friendship was cemented when Ami and her gang tried to embarrass them in the middle of class, and Sakura had helped Ino one up the bully. Both girls had gotten along pretty great; Ino especially liked teaching Sakura about flowers, and gossiping about their other classmates.

Ino once thought that the girl was walking by the Yamanaka flower shop on purpose, but after tailing the other girl one day out of curiosity Ino discovered that it was the path Sakura usually took to get to Uzumaki Naruto's place.

Naruto was notorious for his pranks and unruly behavior, so Ino couldn't figure out what was so great about him that Sakura stuck to him like glue. Heck, the girl was even emulating Naruto's aversion to school!

But Ino figured that if Sakura was happy, she didn't need to say anything to the teachers about Ami and her clique bullying the pinkette, especially if Sakura could take care of herself. But she resolved to keep an eye out on the situation regardless; if that Dead Last did anything to hurt her classmate, Ino would find out immediately - being the natural gossip that she was - and pound his stupid face in!

"Ooh! It's nice to meet you, Hinata-chan!" Ino heard Sakura gush. Ino carefully peered out from behind the wall at her three classmates standing outside Ichiraku ramen.

"Hey Hinata-chan, did you know you're one of the cutest girls I've ever seen? Plus you're kind, sweet, and smart! I like that!"

Sakura's smile was very mischievous and suggestive.

"W-w-w-what?" Hinata stammered faintly. She tried to take a step back, but Sakura immediately clasped the other girl's hands within her own, trapping her.

Naruto's easy going grin vanished in an instant, and his face went pale. "Oi, Sakura-chan are you seriously going to-"

"Hinata-chan, I like everything about you! Will you be my girlfriend?"

Ino couldn't help but shiver alongside Naruto. She herself had been a victim to Sakura's blunt romantic overtures, so she couldn't help but sympathize with the blushing and hyperventilating Hyuuga.

"I-I-I don't - I-I-I'm not-"

Around them, overly curious onlookers shamelessly watched the kids' antics and muttered to each other about corrupted youth.

"Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed, both arms already extended just in case, ready to catch Hinata before she hit the ground.

"What on earth is - you again?!" Ayame, Teuchi's daughter, stepped out of the shop with a pair of wooden tongs in hand. She brandished it threateningly in Sakura's direction. "You always do this in front of our store! Take it some place else!"

"Hi, Ayame-san!" Sakura replied cheerfully, unperturbed by the impressive amount of killing intent the civilian was exuding. "You're as pretty as always!"

"I'll maim you!"

"Kyaa! Run!"

"Dammit Sakura, I wanted Ichiraku ramen today!" Naruto groused at the top of his lungs as he dashed away from the ramen stand with Hinata unconscious on his back.

Ino watched the trio disappear down the bustling street before slipping out of the dark alley.

It was time to go home and report to her dad.

Inoichi had been worried about Sakura getting a relapse, but Ino was proud to say that Sakura was well on her way to recovery.

 **.**

 **#30** **, nth L**

Kakashi would need to take another look at those dossiers the Academy had provided him with.

Seriously.

How in the hell did they miss a personality quirk of this magnitude?

"My name is Haruno Sakura! I like both boys and girls equally, especially if they're good-looking. I dislike the civilian age ratings that bar me from certain movie theaters. My hobbies are research, sketching, gardening and the occasional visit to the hot springs. My dream is to one day be a great ninja mangaka and pen the greatest erotica series in all the five major shinobi nations... and make both males and females alike literally drop their pants from arou-"

"GAAAAH Sakura-chan, that's too much information!" Naruto choked, purposely cutting his teammate off before she could say anything else. Heaven only knew how crazy he was about the girl, and trusted her ever since she'd approached him that one cloudy day, but even he couldn't stand how blunt she could be about her creepier interests sometimes.

Sakura stopped talking, but continued to smile as innocently as an angel, not ashamed at all by what she'd just proclaimed in front of her jounin sensei.

Sasuke edged away from her. While he did not spend a significant time in Sakura's presence like Naruto, she had already come onto him. Hard.  
It was embarrassing enough to scar the boy _almost_ as badly as the incident with his clan.

...Okay, it only happened once, and it never happened again (not that he'd ever give her the chance), but still. Worse, he had it on good information that he had not been the only victim of Sakura's amorous intentions in their year.

"Ooookay..." Kakashi wisely refrained from commenting on the girl's unique introduction and instead plowed right on ahead, explaining how they would go through another test, a survival test given by him, in order to officially pass as genin. And, the 66% rate of failure his test had.

Naruto shuddered. Could anyone really blame him? He didn't earn his leaf headband the orthodox way - he'd literally put his life on the line just to get it. And Iruka wouldn't be able to do much work for the next couple of weeks while the condition of his spine was under careful monitor of the hospital.  
All of that, and yet, there was still a 66% chance that Naruto wouldn't be able to become a genin anyways.

Sasuke smirked, already looking forward to the challenge. He'd already reached his highest potential at Academy level, and there was literally nothing else he could learn at school. He was confident that he could pass and become a genin - screw it, he's the top shinobi in his year, period. There was just no other possible outcome for him. And he wouldn't let some pathetic excuse of a jounin like Kakashi to hold him back.

As for Sakura?

"It's okay, _Kakashi-sensei_ ," she purred, Kakashi's own name sounding ludicrously suggestive already. "As long as it's you giving us the test, we don't mind. At all. I know I'll be _enjoying_ every minute of it..."

But she didn't just stop there.

Sakura giggled and winked at him.

She winked at him!

Both boys' eyes bugged out at her, flabbergasted by her audacity. Kakashi admirably restrained himself from shuddering in disgust and horror.

There was _no way in hell_ the boys were prepared for what would transpire tomorrow.

 **.**

 **#31** **, nth L**

Late that morning in the privacy of his office, Hiruzen skimmed the files and winced inwardly.

Uchiha Sasuke was the only surviving member of the Uchiha Massacre. Similarly, Haruno Sakura, the only female of Team 7, was the sole survivor of a string of serial murders that had happened 5 years ago. And Uzumaki Naruto, the village pariah, lost his family before he could really get to know them.

And their teacher, Hatake Kakashi, was just a mess of survivor's guilt.

Disaster.

The Sandaime looked outside the window and noted how bright it was. Hatake was legendary for being late to everything except missions, so Hiruzen knew that Team 7's test was only just starting.

He was concerned about these students because Kakashi himself had predicted they would fail in his report yesterday.

So, checking their progress wasn't a problem, right?

It didn't take long for Hiruzen to set up his scrying orb. With an ancient chant, the ball shone brightly. Hiruzen concentrated on Training Ground 7...

 **.**

 **#32** **, nth L**

"Kakashi?" Asuma drawled, surprise evident in his voice. "What are you doing here?"

To the best of his knowledge, Kakashi had never stepped inside the Yakiniku barbecue place before. He was a health nut after all. And yet here he was, in all his slouched glory, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Maa, I was searching for my pet caterpillar-"

"On second thought, I don't want to hear it. Have a seat."

"Thanks."

Asuma turned to his subordinates. "Guys, this here is Hatake Kakashi, the jounin instructor of Team 7."

"That's Sasuke-kun's team, right?!" Ino predictably demanded. "Sakura is sooo lucky! She gets to have him all to herself!"

Shikamaru jerked awake from the girl's sudden screeches and tried to lean away from Ino as far as the booth would allow. Chouji patted his friend's shoulder sympathetically.

Unfortunately Ino was still on a roll. "On the flip side, I do kind of feel sorry for Naruto. _I can't believe how dense_ Sakura is about his feelings! And now he's stuck on the same team as her, forced to watch her flirt with everything on two legs!"

Kakashi's chuckle sounded a little strained.

Curious.

Asuma flicked some ash in the tray and nudged the silver-haired man's arm. "I take it that the female on your team is as bad as Ino when it comes to boys?" He was joking, but his eyes studied Kakashi intently. He was fishing for information on Team 7 - and he wanted to find out if they were truly responsible for the village wide alarm yesterday when they were _supposedly_ only taking Kakashi's bell test.

Ino huffed. "I resent that comparison, sensei! At least I stick strictly to _boys_! AND I'm loyal to Sasuke-kun!"

Asuma's eyebrow arched. "Oh?"

"Sakura hits on _everybody_! She even flirted with _Shikamaru_! Shikamaru, the most worthless bum in our graduating class!" Ino declared.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"She told Iruka-sensei he was adorable!" Ino groaned. "That was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life! Ick! She has no shame!"

"Sakura asked me out," Chouji put in his two cents after swallowing another mouthful of barbecue. "I went. It was fun."

"You _what_?!" Ino's head jerked towards her teammate in utter shock. "When?!"

"Two weeks before our graduation exam, the four of us - Sakura, Hinata, Naruto and I - had a double date right here to try out Yakiniku's new seasonal menu. Then Sakura and I had another date at the bakery next door, for their all-you-can-eat cake."

Chouji's fond smile wasn't one Asuma had ever seen before.

"When Sakura asked if we could become a couple, I really wanted to say yes! But dad doesn't want me to date anyone until I've gotten experience running one of the family restaurants, so I had to turn her down."

"How could I have missed something of this magnitude?" Ino hissed. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because we knew you wouldn't ever shut up about it if we did," Shikamaru muttered darkly.

"What?! You too, Shikamaru?! You jerks!"

Asuma coughed and promptly tuned out his students bickering. "So, Kakashi, how are your other students? I can't imagine how the last Uchiha and Bright Orange Ninja are getting along."

 **.**

 **#33** **, nth L**

 _"Rule number 25... a shinobi never shows their feelings, no matter what the circumstances. Feelings are a weakness that only clouds their judgment and weakens their sense of duty."_

Tazuna stood off to the side, close enough to his ninja bodyguard, Sakura, for his own safety and at the same time just far away enough to give the girl some privacy as she mourned her dead raven-haired teammate. Her head rested heavily on top of the boy's cold, unmoving body, her pink hair spilling out over her shoulders as she cried.

And oh, did she _cry_.

Tazuna closed his eyes as a wretched scream tore from the girl's throat, but it was already too late. He knew he wouldn't forget this moment for the rest of his life. After all, it had been his fault to begin with, lying about the mission parameters and pulling in 3 fresh genin into such danger...

 **.**

 **#34** **, nth L**

The news of Uchiha Sasuke's passing shook Konohagakure.

Kakashi, who was the mission leader and therefore responsible for the C-rank turned A-rank nightmare, was constantly hounded by the council. Ever since they'd returned from the Land of the Waves the remaining members of Team 7 hadn't seen hide or hair of their jounin instructor.

During those long, empty days Naruto had stuck to Sakura like glue even more than before. Like a clockwork they trained feverishly together in the morning, performed monotonous D-ranks around the village in the afternoon and stayed over at her apartment at night. Sakura had even started coaching Naruto on performing the most basic of healing jutsus and the Mystic Palm technique, and it distracted them enough from the fact that Sasuke is _deaddeaddead_ for a couple hours everyday.

It's all they can do to stave off despair, and they quickly realized that they do a much better job if they're together.

Nights were the worst.

Naruto was plagued by nightmares about Sasuke jumping to his defense, sacrificing his life for the blond... nightmares about that evil red chakra (the _Kyuubi's_ ) that had reinforced his bones and muscles enough to snap Haku's neck with a single punch. He almost always woke up gasping for air and covered in cold sweat, and Sakura was always right there, holding him close as he shook.

Sakura wasn't doing too good, either.

If Naruto wasn't the one getting shaken awake from yet another dream of Sasuke taking that fatal hit for him, the situation would be reversed, with Naruto shaking Sakura awake from _her_ nightmares. Tonight was one such night.

Sakura had finally fallen back asleep, but Naruto couldn't bring himself to do the same. So he carefully slid off the double bed they'd ended up sharing and padded as quietly as he could to the bathroom. He quickly found that he couldn't stand to look at himself in the mirror without wanting to punch something, so he opens the medicine cabinet door to keep that infernal mirror away from him. And discovered the huge stash of white medicine bottles.

"Anti...histamine...?"

Naruto wasn't sure what the word on the labels meant, but he was _sure_ he'd saw similar looking bottles in Iruka-sensei's desk whenever he searched it for glue or scissors. The question was, whatever did Sakura need medicine for? In all the years he'd ever known her, she had barely gotten the flu once or twice and a couple of headaches, but not much else. Not to mention she was just as bad as Iruka and Kakashi about eating healthy, if not worse.

His attention and thought process was soon diverted to the folded sheet of paper shoved behind several bottles. Curious as to why it would be placed in such a manner, the blond pushed aside the medicine bottles and reached for the paper-

"What are you doing?"

Naruto jumped and whirled around. "Geez Sakura-chan, you scared me!"

"That's what you get for rifling around in other people's medicine cabinets, dummy!" Sakura reached over and pinched Naruto's nose, causing him to splutter and complain. "Now let's get back to bed. Hokage-sama wants us to play tour guides for the foreign shinobi arriving tomorrow morning, remember?"

"Leggo mah ngose!" Naruto squawked.

The medicine and the paper promptly forgotten, both genin slipped back into bed, but ended up talking about random things instead of actually sleeping until dawn.

 **.**

 **#35** **, nth L**

Naruto wasn't surprised when Sakura began "subtly" flirting with one of the boys in the Suna genin team that they had been assigned to guide. Really, Sakura flirted with shinobi and civilian alike, and didn't care what their gender or what their status was. Heck, Sakura was known for flirting with _enemies_. It was already a fact of life for Naruto that Sakura thrived in romance so he only made token effort to stop her. Hokage-jii-san knew about Sakura's favorite pastime and had assigned her as a tour guide anyway so there was no problem, right?

"Gaara, huh?" Sakura smiled invitingly. "My name is Sakura! Can I call you Gaara-kun?"

"I don't care." Gaara didn't appear very interested in what she had to say.

Not even a minute had passed since the standard introductions and the blonde Suna kunoichi was already giving Naruto the _what-the-hell-is-she-doing_ look. In response, Naruto just shrugged and began pointing out various landmarks and places of interest as they walked. Because he knew Sakura wouldn't be doing (much) any time soon.

"Is this your first time in Konohagakure, Gaara-kun? If you like, I could show you some great places to get souvenirs!" Sakura suggested, seemingly unaware of the awkward silence that had descended upon the other Suna-nin.

"Pointless," Gaara cut in, his voice flat. "I have no need for such a thing."

Their jounin sensei, Baki, coughed.

The third member of the group, who looked like a bunraku puppeteer, kept giving Sakura the oddest of looks. Which Sakura ignored in favor of the stone-faced punk she was currently fawning over.

Inwardly Naruto felt a twinge of vindictive pleasure at the sight of the foreign ninja's perturbed faces as Sakura babbled on and Gaara stared impassively at her.

All in all, the short tour was more or less completed without incident. The only truly awkward moment was when Naruto and Sakura were about to leave the Suna genin team at their hotel.

As Naruto expected, Sakura had suggested to the redhead - who was identified the Yondaime Kazekage's youngest son - that they "get to know each other better" and have dinner together tonight, or tomorrow night.

"...Why?"

It was far from the flat rejection of Sakura's amorous overtures Naruto had been expecting.

It was also the first real question Gaara had asked during this whole trip. Gaara's teammates (siblings) and jounin sensei seemed to stiffen at the exact same time, eyes wide and breaths held. Waiting in anticipation for... what were they waiting for, anyways?

Gaara still had his arms crossed as he stared straight into Sakura's eyes. Something about his tone of voice and the way he held himself made Naruto think that he was suspicious.

Maybe this reaction wasn't too surprising either - any shinobi would be wary of friendly gestures made by foreign ninja.

What made this situation strange was how the other Suna-nin were regarding Gaara. As if they were nervous that the redhead would _snap_ or-

Oh no.

Their pale faces. Gaara's unnerving stare. The feeling of waiting for the guillotine to drop down.

It all clicked.

Naruto resisted the urge to smack his forehead when he finally understood what was going on.

Gaara was probably an unhinged wacko who snapped at the slightest provocation. And Sakura had been _flirting_ with this cuckoo. Wonderful.

"Oi, Sakura-chan we need to get ready to greet the next team, dattebayo," Naruto wheedled softly, all of his survival instincts screaming danger.

"Well Gaara-kun, I'm asking you on a date because I'm interested in you, and I want to spend time with you," Sakura answered easily, ignoring Naruto. "And I'm hoping that maybe you and I could become something more."

"Become something more." Gaara's tone lacked the necessary intonations to make it a question.

"Yes! Specifically, I want to be your girlfriend!"

Sakura was still smiling brightly. The puppeteer (Kankuro? Was that his name?) muttered something that sounded like "does he even know what girlfriends are?" under his breath.

The blonde kunoichi (Temari) stepped forward and attempted to control the situation. "Thank you for your hospitality, Naruto-san, Sakura-san. I'm sure you still have other duties to return to so my team and I won't be keeping you any longer-"

"Shut up," Gaara deadpanned, his eyes flickering towards his sister. Both of his siblings snapped to attention, and Baki's hands clenched as if he was preparing to use a weapon or a jutsu. If Naruto wasn't equally freaked out by the situation at hand he would have laughed.

"...You want to be my girlfriend." Gaara refocused his attention on Sakura, whose smile finally slipped a fraction.

"Was I being too forward?" Sakura blushed lightly. Naruto bet all of his ramen that this blush was totally planned. "If you hate it, and you don't like me, I promise to back off."

At long last, Gaara looked away. "I don't hate it," he said ambiguously. He seemed to ponder over something before nodding his head once. "...I'll kill you last."

 _Wow_ , Naruto thought. _He's a complete nutcase._

Gaara turned around and slipped inside the hotel. His team scrambled after him.

 **.**

 **#36** **, nth L**

Temari never thought she'd see the day her youngest brother would ask (more like coldly demand) her about girlfriends. If they had had a normal sibling relationship, and weren't planning on a joint invasion of Konoha alongside Otogakure she would have been over the moon that a girl had shown interest in the family baby, and said family baby showed signs of reciprocating.

As it were, her baby brother was a psychopath and Konoha was to be razed to the ground in over a month's time. Kankuro and Baki also had the same idea in mind as it were, and together they tried to convince Gaara to forget the Leaf kunoichi and her brazen and indecent offers.

Their arguments were cut short at the sight of Gaara's sand roving about lazily inside their shared hotel suite.

 **.**

 **#37** **, nth L**

Naruto was eating alone at Ichiraku ramen today. The food was delicious as always, and Teuchi was as welcoming and grandfatherly as usual, but Naruto just couldn't get over what Hokage-jii-san had just told him.

They would be getting a new member for Team 7, a replacement for Sasuke.

A _replacement_.

Naruto had complained, but Hiruzen had remained firm - some stranger that Naruto had never even met before was just going to walk into the Team and take Sasuke's place. As if _anybody_ could take Sasuke's place!

"H-hello, Naruto-kun," came the familiar whisper somewhere behind the boy.

Naruto swallowed a mouthful of noodle and glanced over his shoulder. "Hinata..."

"I-Is there something the matter? You look worried..."

Naruto actually had to think about his answer. There were lots of problems, yes. Sakura was starting to avoid him again, and was obviously planning something but wouldn't tell him. Sasuke was dead. Sasuke was getting replaced.

Hinata sat down quietly next to the whiskered blond, patiently waiting for his answer. When it looked like he couldn't give her one, she said, "I understand if you can't tell me, but I... I just wanted you to know that I'm here for you. The same way you and Sakura-chan have been there for me."

Naruto was grateful for Hinata's supportive presence that day, but even then, he couldn't stop worrying about the future.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Thanks for reading! Leave a review and let me know what you thought!


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